45
THE AUSTIN PAPERS
AUSTIN TO ]AMES F. PERRY
Mexico March 4 1835
DR BROTHER,
I expected to have been on my way home before this, but my affairs are not yet concluded so that I can leave I hope however that I shall not be detained longer than all this month. The affairs of Texas are in a much better train for that country to become a state, than they ever have been. ·The subject was before the House of Representatives last week, and information was called for by the house from the executive which will be given in a few days, and is very favourable for Texas. The people there must not expect a state immediately, but the matter will be put in a train to make it a state within a reasonable and even short time- There will be an exemption of duties on cotton bagging iron steel and some other articles I have also recommended that a premium be given on Texas cotton shipped to Tampico and Vera Cruz also that 2 companies of mounted riflemen be raised· in Texas to be stationed high up on the Colorado and Brazos, for •the purpose of defense and of opening the road to Chihuahua-also new mail routes-one from Goliad by LaBaca, Matagorda, Brazoria to San Felipe, and thence to Harrisburg Liberty. and Nacogdoches, and several other things of interest lo Texas, all of which are now under consideration by the Govt· . Col Almonte is the true and active friend of Texas in all these matters-- The present minister of relations, Gutierrez Estrada, is a very enlightened and good man- As to myself, I have more friends here than I ever had before, and so has Texas Almonte has in the press a statistical notice of. Texas, it will be out in a few days. 1 I have not seen it or any part of it, but he says it gives a favourable view of that country and its inhabitants- I hope that iny friend Grayson will be with you by the time you get this- I can never sufficiently express my thankfulness to him and Jack- They are truly sterling men Tell Grayson that Butler told a man the other day, that the letters which he, Butler, wrote to Texas in my favor was what induced the 0 people there to interest themselves for me so far as to send on Grayson and Jack- Butler, I suppose made this statement to try and injure me with the person he was talking to, for I do not visit nor. even speak to him, and he wishes no doubt to make it appear that he tryed to serve me, so as to induce others to believe that I nm ungratefull-so far from trying to serve me, I have reason to believe that he and Mason 1 Noticia Estadistica sobre Tejas, Mexico, 1835. With the exception of some tables it is reprinted in Filisola, Memorias para la Historia de la Guerra de Tejas, II, 535-577. A translation by Carlos Castaneda is published in The Southwestern Historical Quar- terly, XXVIII, 177-222. •
Powered by FlippingBook